STANDARD STANDARD EVERYWHERE A STANDARD
“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign, Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind, Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?” If you’re over 50 you may recall this song called Signs by the Five Man Electrical Band playing on the radio back in the 70’s.
Here’s my rendition of the lyrics, Standard, standard, everywhere a standard, blocking out reality, follow guidelines, do this, don’t do that, can’t you read instructions?
Those words may not flow as well but for some of you they may cause an uptick in your blood pressure.
It was the late 80’s that I took some of my first Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) classes, specifically Carpet Cleaning Technician and Carpet Repair and Reinstallation Technician to name a few. I now have 11 IICRC certifications and over 35 other certifications and credentials related to specific flooring manufacturing training. It was in the early 90’s that I became an IICRC Senior Carpet Inspector. I learned so much reading the pre-study books before the class, taking the week long course, and day-long open book exam. Did I learn everything there was to learn about carpet and carpet defects? H-E-double-hockey-sticks NO! I’m still learning to this day, because things change, and it’s not just carpet itself but also the environment carpet is installed in and exposed to.
What a person truly learns taking classes to become a flooring inspector is how to become a detective. My favorite detectives to this day, albeit actors, were Joe Friday and Columbo, and I just dated myself didn’t I? Joe Friday was a “just the facts” guy and Columbo always wanted to ask one more question. Loved the shows then and still do today and I try and emulate them in my role as an Inspector. Gather facts and ask questions. Then after gathering all that information I have to compare it to the rules that apply to the issue and then write a report.
What do you mean rules?
According to…
The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) S100 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Cleaning of Textile Floor Coverings,
The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) ANSI/IICRC S500 - Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Water Damage Restoration,
The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) 204 Commercial Carpet Standard for Cleaning and Maintenance,
The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) 205 Residential Carpet Standard for Cleaning and Maintenance,
The Carpet and Rug Institute’s Standard for Installation of Commercial Carpet CRI 104,
The Carpet and Rug Institute’s Standard for Installation of Residential Carpet CRI 105,
The National Wood Flooring Association Installation Guidelines,
The Tile Council of North America (TCNA) Handbook for Ceramic Tile Installation,
Etc…
These documents may be titled Standard or Installation guidelines, but in reality they are rule books.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE
Each manufacturer also has their own installation instructions or guidelines such as the proper tackstrip to be used when installing carpet, how far to space fasteners when installing engineered or solid wood, how flat the subfloor is supposed to be to install luxury vinyl flooring, how large of an expansion space is to be left when installing laminate. These are also rules. Add to this every manufacturer of flooring components that go into installing any type of flooring, such as the cushion under carpet, the adhesive for vinyl flooring, the underlayment for porcelain or natural stone tile, to name a few. And don’t forget all the care and maintenance guidelines for these floorcoverings.
RULES, RULES AND MORE RULES
Should all carpet seams be sealed? Both the CRI 104 and 105 standards state: “All seams must be sealed…”, and nearly every manufacturer states the same thing in their installation guidelines. Should carpet be vacuumed prior to cleaning? The word essential is used to describe how important vacuuming before any cleaning method is performed. Is it okay to use an “oil soap cleaner” to mop resilient or urethane finished wood floors? What relative humidity should a home with wood floors be kept at year round? What do you mean by accommodation joint? How often should carpet be professionally hot water extraction cleaned? Which floor cleaner is approved for laminate, luxury vinyl, wood, porcelain or marble? What is the tolerance for how flat the subfloor is supposed to be for luxury vinyl or any other type of flooring? All of these questions are answered in the rules that manufacturers put together in the form of installation and care and maintenance instructions.
Do you know the difference between flat and level? The top of my desk is flat, but it may not be level. A manufacturer’s installation specification stated “the subfloor is to be clean, dry and flat”, which means there is no tolerance, the floor is to be flat.
It was 2009 that I first got involved in working on standard writing. It was an update of the S100 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Cleaning of Textile Floor Coverings. I was responsible for the Section that covered Pre-Cleaning and Post-Cleaning Inspections. With the help of some very dedicated friends who owned successful carpet cleaning businesses, we created this section. About the same time the IICRC was in development of a reference guide for the Inspection of Textile Floorcoverings which ultimately became the ANSI/IICRC S800 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Inspection of Textile Floorcovering. With the help of over 32 dedicated and passionate people, this document was published in 2014. The people involved were Inspectors and people who worked in the technical services departments of some of the largest carpet manufacturers, claims people, inspection broker services, adhesive manufacturers, textile testing laboratories, carpet cleaning companies, companies who contracted carpet installers, and organizations such as the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI), National Institute of Certified Floor Covering Inspectors (NICFI), and World Floor Covering Association (WFCA). These people were all engaged in the industry and worked tirelessly with much out of pocket expenses to develop these documents. I am now the chairman of this committee.
MY PROTÉGÉ
I am proud to say that my daughter and protégé Jessica Violand Bruno, who told me years ago that she was never going into the flooring business, (ha-ha!) is a Lead Sales Associate at a local ProSource flooring wholesaler. She is also the Chairman of the new ANSI/IICRC S220 Standard for Hard Surface Floor Covering Inspection. She tells me she has the who’s-who of the resilient flooring industry on her committee.
The point I am trying to make here is that standards are not something that is just thrown together, they take years to develop and revise. When you get people who have risen in their industry to participate in the writing of these documents, the meetings can get interesting. You have a person from the installation industry debating with a technical services director over words like shall, should, recommend, may, and can. That is called gnat-poo editing which is important, because in life and the real world there are rules and words-mean-things.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Trust me now, believe me later, there are no carpet or flooring industry standards police. Inspectors don’t “witch hunt” to find fault with anyone, we just want the facts. An Inspector’s report is to be based on industry standards, manufacturer’s guidelines, and standard care and maintenance practices, to provide an unbiased explanation of any issue occurring to carpet or flooring through testing, analysis and observation.
BTW, I never mentioned manufacturer’s tolerances. That is a whole other article.